VOLCANIC ASH
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By David Shapiro
Sometimes a conversation gets off to such a bad start that the only thing to do is for both parties to take deep breaths and start over.
That seems to be the case in the dispute between the Hawai'i Law Enforcement Coalition and the House Judiciary Committee over legislation to stiffen bribery laws for public officials.
Both support more stringent control over gifts to public servants by those who benefit from government actions — and harsher penalties for those who offer and accept bribes.
But a near-nuclear war of words has erupted over issues that appear resolvable if the parties would simply talk out their differences.
The Law Enforcement Coalition includes the attorney general, the four county prosecutors, the county police chiefs and the U.S. attorney.
They call Hawai'i's lenient bribery laws "nothing short of a disgrace," and have pushed tougher sanctions for three years, only to see their bills die in the House without making it out of committee.
The group complains that current law places few limits on gifts to public officials by private interests and the maximum penalty for accepting a $1 million bribe is the same as for accepting $301 — five years in prison.
They propose felony restrictions on gifts intended to influence policy-makers and regulators and doubling the maximum penalty to 10 years, with a graduated schedule of jail time and fines.Ê
The group was upset last year when the bill passed the Senate 25-0 but didn't get a vote in the House.
When the House Judiciary Committee voted 9-0 on March 1 to hold the bill again and not send it to the floor for a vote, frustrated law enforcers issued an unusually harsh public letter suggesting that House members are "pleased that Hawai'i has such a weak bribery law."
"The only conclusion we can draw is that many in the state House believe that our very lenient bribery law is just fine, and that it is a good thing that Hawai'i is such a bribe-friendly state," said the letter signed by Attorney General Mark Bennett and county prosecutors Peter Carlisle of Honolulu, Craig de Costa of Kaua'i, Jay Kimura of the Big Island and Davelynn Tengan of Maui.
Rep. Sylvia Luke, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, was perplexed by the broadside, noting that the panel's two Republicans joined the seven Democrats in voting to hold the bill after representatives of the law enforcement group were unable to provide clear answers about some of the fine points.
"I felt we could have worked it out," Luke said.
She said members were confused as to whether the governor and lieutenant governor would be covered and whether goodwill trips paid with outside funds, such as Gov. Linda Lingle's visits to Japan and Israel, would be considered illegal gifts.
Luke said committee members didn't understand language allowing "trivial" gifts worth less than $250, and she has a point that the wording contains more gray area than clarity in providing guidance on what is permissible.
"If they want to prohibit gifts, they should just flat out prohibit all gifts," she said.
Luke worries that bad feelings over the public letter might increase tensions between lawmakers and the law enforcers over other bills the group wants, such as increased wiretapping in drug cases and expansion of the sex-offender registry.
It needn't come to that. Clearly, there is agreement that Hawai'i's lax bribery laws need tougher gift restrictions and penalties.
The right thing to do is to put the acrimony aside, give the conversation a fresh start and work out agreeable language in the public interest they all serve.
David Shapiro, a veteran Hawai'i journalist, can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net.
